Some Christmas Memories....

I'm sure that Cliff and I aren't alone in trying to take traditions from each of our families and add new ones of our own to our Christmas season celebrations. We also get the added bonus of travelling to each family every year and participating in whatever traditions are happening on the days we are together. It makes for a very full and fun season! As I've been thinking about this over the past couple of days I started thinking about things that we did when I was a kid...some are still traditions, some have changed a little, and some we've outgrown or forgotten. And I decided that I wanted to write down some of my memories - mostly for my enjoyment and to share with my kids - but if you want to read them I hope you enjoy! And as a warning I'm not sure how long this post might end up and I'm definitely not going to try to do them in chronological order or anything like that. Just going to write them as they come to me. And maybe add a few here or there as I remember them!

- One Christmas Eve we went over to Holt's house and I don't really remember what we did but I do remember listening to the radio as they "reported" sighting Rudolph and Santa's sleigh. All of us little kids were so excited as we rushed to the window to look at the sky to see if we could see a red blinking light moving across the sky.
- Mom always made tons of homemade yummy fondant chocolates and carmels. It was quite the process of making the fondant, adding the flavor, hand whipping it, rolling it, chilling it, dipping it and chilling it again. She made so many so she could sell them and use the money for Christmas presents. Of course when we were little we didn't realize that's what she was doing it for. I'm sure that we were quite the nuisances....what a lot of work with 3 little girls underfoot! As we got a little older we were able to help mom roll the centers which helped a little but she still did the majority of the work by herself. Thanks mom!
- Mom used to make rosettes every Christmas. My memory is that it was a tradition from her family and came from the Ukraine or something like that. Basically she had long metal sticks that attached to different metal shapes - I remember the butterflies very well - and she would dip the shape into a batter and then fry it in oil. When the batter was crispy it would come off the mold and then she'd start over again. I remember ice cream buckets full of these and they were yummy treats.
- When we were little mom would make up goodie plates for friends in the ward and we would go caroling and drop off the plates. It was fun and sometimes a little scary because we would visit the "old" people in our ward.
- Decorating the tree - when I was little we still had the colored lights that you unscrewed and put the reflector on and then screwed the light back in. And we had a real tree for a long time. Dad would bring it in and let it warm up in the basement before bringing it up and screwing it into the stand. After the lights came the garland and then the ornaments. We had a few "special" ornaments that we all wanted to put on the tree but eventually we just had Miffy Mouse - a little mouse in a walnut. And we would take turns every year finding the perfect spot for her. Until my Grandma Knibb made mom a porcelain angel we had a star that lit up for our tree topper and it was always the last thing to go on. We couldn't wait for dad to put it on and plug it in.
- Hanging our stockings up was always the last thing we did on Christmas Eve and always required a picture
- We got new jammies every year. We got to open them on Christmas Eve and when we were really little it was a surprise every year that that's what was in the box. As we got older we knew what to expect but the excitement was still there. They were the only presents under the tree until Christmas morning and sometimes they were matching and sometimes they weren't.
- We spent quite a few Christmas Eve's out at Grandma and Grandpa Robinson's farm with all of the cousins. Lots of food and little space. There always seemed to be someone somewhere and we had lots of fun and lots of TV trays to eat off of.
- Christmas morning dad always got up extra early and went to the feedlot to get the cows fed. We were usually up and waiting for him when he got home. I think it added to the anticipation of seeing everything under the tree and the stockings and having to wait for dad to get home.
- As long as I can remember we would all do our stockings - kids first and then mom and dad - then have a special breakfast before opening presents. Some years it was fun cereal like Captain Crunch, some years it was sweet bread and other yummies. As we've gotten older it's morphed into quite the breakfast spread that we all pitch in and help with.
- Before my Grandma Knibb died we would usually finish opening presents, get ready and then head to Taber for dinner and presents there. Grandma and Grandpa had the tree downstairs and it just killed all of us kids that we had to wait until after dinner AND dishes before we could start on the presents. Mom and her sisters did all the dishes and now me and my sisters do the dishes. After dishes were finally done and the kitchen declared clean we would go downstairs and dad would hand out all the presents. Then the grandkids took turns one at a time opening our gifts. Then on to mom and dad and her sisters, and finally grandma and grandpa. It was fun to take turns and see what everyone gave and received.
-One year mom and dad and her sisters gave grandma a family ring and hid it in an mandarin orange box. Grandma was so confused when she opened the box but loved the ring when she found it.
- Another year dad got really sick with the flu Christmas eve and by morning the rest of us were all sick to. Grandma and Grandpa Knibb packed up Christmas - turkey included - and brought it to us. I don't think we ate much of anything but we didn't miss Christmas.
- The first Christmas I was accomplished enough on the piano I played every Christmas song I could out of the Reader's Digest book while my family sang along
- Mom was a Relief Society teacher one year and put together a slide presentation that went along with one of our Christmas tapes - A Children's Christmas - it tells the story of Christmas with songs, scriptures and a great script. Every year since we have watched that presentation on Christmas Eve and we can still sing all the words to the songs.
- The goody table - always loaded with soooo many good things to eat
- Christmas advent calenders with the gross chocolates. I would always gobble mine right up - Alisha would hoard hers and it always made me so mad that she had all these chocolates left over.
- Our first Christmas in our 'new' house we spent the whole afternoon downstairs under blankets with tons of yummy treats and watched movies together. I think we probably watched 3 or 4...it was a lot of fun.
- Going to look at all the beautiful lights around the town. We didn't do it every year but I loved it when we did.
- The Rotary Carol Festival. When we got older one or more of us were usually involved in some way or another - singing with choirs, me accompanying a choir....and although we did our fair share of grumbling I was always glad that we had gone
- Colored popcorn from Piersons. Oh so yummy.
- Dad always passed out all the gifts under the tree before we started opening them. We would take turns oldest to youngest between us girls and then mom and dad would open theirs. We still do this when we're all together - grandkids, then kids, then mom and dad. And Zane has been dad's elf for the past couple of years. I think he'll have 2 helpers this year!
- We've never been allowed into the living room where the tree is until dad has gone and plugged in the lights and started Christmas music - I think it enhances the magic of the moment! When we got a little older mom and dad thought we might cheat so dad would rig a sheet across the doorway that would fall if you touched it. I never tried to peak because I liked the surprise and anticipation of everything....I don't know if Lish or Kizzy ever tried to snoop.
- I've always woke up early on Christmas Eve and I still do. I just LOVE the magic of the whole day and I'm usually awake by 5:30. When we were little we had to stay in bed until 7:00 and it just killed me to wait. The 3 of us girls used to camp out in one room or another Christmas Eve night and giggle away until late and then start again early in the morning as we waited for the clock to move!
- The last Christmas I had at home before Cliff and I got married the 3 of us girls decided to sleep upstairs together which involved dragging a mattress up the stairs -if you've been in my parent's house you'll understand how difficult this might be for 3 giggly girls as we tried to get the mattress to bend around the landing corner and up the stairs. I ended up getting smushed between the wall and the mattress and all 3 of us were laughing so hard that dad eventually had to take over and get the mattress up stairs.
- Mom reminded me of one - our Christmas dresses! When we were all little mom would make us a new dress every Christmas. I'm not sure how many years that lasted before changing into new Christmas dresses from the store...and of course they had to have crinolins! We loved to spin and have our dresses twirl out around us. We used to "dress up" in our crinolins and pretend we were ballerinas with tu-tus. I think the tradition lasted until I was a teenager...

I have been so blessed to have such great memories of Christmas and every new one brings even more. I'm sure as the season continues I'll remember more and I'll try to add them. I think I'll do them in a different color so you'll know if there's new ones or not. Feel free to check if you want or not. Like I said earlier, this post was for me and my kids and their kids....